Robber-rapist Hits

His Seventh Victim

Sheriff's Deputy Interrupts Attack In Lauderhill

A man suspected of attacking seven women in 11 days in the Lauderhill-Sunrise area struck again early Saturday, this time a 41-year-old woman alone in her car at a stop sign, police said.

The attack was cut short when a Broward sheriff's deputy saw the man beating the woman in Lauderhill, Sheriff's Office spokesman George Crolius said. The man, who remained at large late Saturday, is thought to be responsible for a string of rapes and robberies of women that began on July 27.

All of the attacks have taken place within a mile and a half of Oakland Park Boulevard, with most in the Lauderhill-Sunrise area. All of them took place between 8:45 p.m. and 5:30 a.m.

"We consider this man extremely dangerous," Crolius said.

In the latest attack, the man grabbed the victim's purse and ran, triggering a manhunt. He escaped, Crolius said.

"In each case, he seems to do whatever the situation calls for," Crolius said. "He may start out intending a sexual assault. If that doesn't work out, he might opt for abduction, or robbery or beating the individual.

"He is a violent man, and we need public assistance to locate him and get him off the streets as quickly as possible."

Police described the assailant as a black man in his late 20s to mid-30s, 5 feet 10 inches tall, 200 to 250 pounds, with short hair, a heavy build and a protruding stomach.

Crolius said women should remain vigilant at all times when outdoors, particularly when entering or getting out of a car.

Police said the man uses recently stolen vehicles to search for his victims. He either uses the stolen vehicle or takes the victim's car during the abductions.

Saturday's incident occurred as the victim was driving home about 5:30 a.m. She told police she was driving west on Sunrise Boulevard at Northwest 56th Avenue when she noticed a car behind her.

The car, a 1981 Buick Regal, followed her until she paused at a stop sign at Northwest 50th Street and 82nd Avenue in Lauderhill, the victim said. The driver of the Buick then pulled out, swerved and struck the front end of her car, blocking the road.

The man ran from his car, broke the driver's side window of the victim's car and began punching her. She tried to get away, but he pulled her through the broken window and continued striking her.

At that point, a Sheriff's Office patrol car pulled up behind the two cars. The officer at first thought the struggle was a domestic dispute, Crolius said, but the assailant grabbed the woman's purse and fled, jumping over a fence and running into a residential area southeast of the intersection.

Sheriff's deputies surrounded the area and called in K-9 units and a helicopter. The search continued for two hours, but the man was not found, Crolius said.

Police later discovered that the Buick had been stolen in Plantation on Friday night.

The woman suffered cuts and bruises in the attack, Crolius said. Her purse was not recovered. It contained a small amount of cash, he said.

The series of attacks are thought to have begun on July 27 with the abduction, rape and robbery of two women, ages 17 and 19, in Lauderhill.

Police offer this account of the man's actions during the past 11 days: On foot and armed with a gun, he confronted the two young women in a car as they drove into a parking lot in the 1600 block of Northwest 46th Avenue in Lauderhill sometime after midnight. He forced his way into the car and drove them to a secluded area, where he locked one woman in the trunk and raped the other at gunpoint. Then he locked that victim in the trunk and raped her companion.

The suspect drove the young women to an automated teller machine, where one of them was forced to withdraw several hundred dollars and give it to the rapist.

Five days later, at 8:45 p.m. Monday, a man meeting the same description attempted to abduct two women from the Landings apartments in the 6600 block of West Oakland Park Boulevard in Lauderhill. He approached the women in the apartment complex parking lot, pulled a gun and told them to get into his car. They started to comply, but ran and escaped. He drove away.

Fifteen minutes later, a woman standing outside her car in the 6700 block of Northwest 25th Court in Sunrise was confronted by a man with a gun. He took her purse and drove away.

At 10:15 that night, the same man is thought to have abducted a 23-year-old woman as she got out of her car in the 1700 block of Northwest Third Avenue in Fort Lauderdale. He forced her to drive him to an automated teller machine near Oakland Park Boulevard and Northwest 31st Avenue, where she withdrew several hundred dollars and gave it to him.

The man then ordered her to drive to a secluded area, where he raped her. He then fled on foot.

On Wednesday, at 10:15 p.m., a sheriff's deputy pulled over a car for running a red light on Northwest 60th Avenue south of Oakland Park Boulevard in Lauderhill. The driver, later identified as the suspect, ran away, leaving behind a recently stolen car.

Crolius urged that anyone with information call CrimeStoppers at 493-TIPS.